In the latest report from the International Data Corporation (IDC), Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, it said that Android and iOS accounted for 95.7 per cent of all smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter of 2013 and for 93.8 per cent of all smartphone shipments for the year.

"Clearly, there was strong end-user demand for both Android and iOS products during the quarter and the year. What stands out are the different routes Android and Apple took to meet this demand. Android relied on its long list of OEM partners, a broad and deep collection of devices, and price points that appealed to nearly every market segment. Apple's iOS, on the other hand, relied on nearly the opposite approach: a limited selection of Apple-only devices, whose prices trended higher than most. Despite these differences, both platforms found a warm reception to their respective user experiences and selection of mobile applications," says said Ramon Llams, research manager at IDC.

However, IDC emphasised that consumer buying behaviour had shifted towards products with radically lower prices, and this is where Apple lost the overall market to Android.

As noted by Ryan Reith, program director at IDC, there had been a noticeable smartphone market growth towards smartphone which only cost sub-$200. In fact, 430 million units of these cheaper phones had been sold in 2013.

"While the market moves downstream to cheaper products it makes sense for Samsung and others to continue their marketing investments geared toward high-end products. These efforts build crucial brand perception while having less expensive alternatives that closely relate to these top products helps to close. Samsung has done exactly this with the 'Galaxy' line. The family name is associated with Samsung's high-end products, yet there are 'Galaxy' variants offered by Samsung at much lower price points than the Note 3 and S4. This has been an important factor in how Samsung has sustained its market lead."

In comparison, Android remains the leader in the smartphone operating system competition. Samsung had accounted for the 39.5 per cent share of shipments of Android phones among Huawei, LG, Lenovo, Coolpad and Sony.

iOS, on the other hand, had showed the lowest but positive growth for the quarter at 6.7 per cent, underperforming the overall market. Apple remains the most popular, but it had been repeatedly criticised for not being able to introduce a low-cost iPhone in 2013 to compete with other OEMs.